I have survived! (A birth story if you are interested!)

As many of you know life can be kinda crazy...especially when you are waiting for a baby to arrive. I have been meaning to get to this blog for ages, but just couldn't get my head around it. My sweet little Olivia just turned 6 months, so I figure it is time for me to update and maybe get back on track. Lets see if I can even do a quick recap! Wish me luck!

Last update: A Short Week but Man did it Feel Long! (July 20, 2012)

OK So in July I had another shower at my Mom's - no real pics, but here is one of me with the Donald gift from my sister Lindsay (who works at Epcot - in the Canada Pavillion!)

One of the few pics of my an my belly. LOL

In August we went to my cousin Dave's wedding in Toronto...it was when I was 37 weeks exactly so Olivia could come at any time. It was a wonderful weekend and it was awesome seeing the family from BC! I hadn't met Lauren my Cousin Steve and his wife Vicky's little girl, she was so cute and fun!

Steve, Me, Jeff, Vicky and Shawna

We also went to the Dead Can Dance concert in Montreal the next weekend! It was awesome and I was 38 weeks at that point! We had a great time with Shawna and on the Saturday we went down to Old Montreal (which I had never been) and walked around! Lucky for us there was an 18th century market happening! I was so excited! You know me I love reenactments! There were some awesome vendors and lace making too!

Dead Can Dance Concert - Bell Centre Montreal

 After we came home from Montreal, I decided to take it a bit easy as Olivia could arrive anytime! I had lots of doctor appointments, cloth diapers to wash, etc. On Friday September 7th, I made plans to hang out with Mel and Dave, I had another ultrasound to do so I went into Ottawa with Jeff. We did the Ultrasound and they gave Olivia her weight at 5lbs 9oz. We were told that most often they are wrong when it comes to weight as she is almost due. We also had to go back to the General for another non-stress test! I was so annoyed with that! My due date was September 8th...so really anytime she will be ready. The spare room was finally done, in fact I was on the bed fluffing the comforter etc...I know crazy pregnant lady!

Anyway, I meet up with Mel and Dave, we have dinner and then decide to watch more True Blood. Jeff was out with a friend. At around 8pm I start feeling the slight cramp. Nothing serious, just tension like my period is coming. I  look at Mel and Dave and say, well I think I should call Jeff and make plans to stay at his parents. (they live 2 minutes from the hospital). The other thing was that I started bringing my suitcase with me in the car, just in case - so we had stuff with us if I went into Labour!

Sure enough that is what was happening. By 12:30am I was in very painful contractions but new it was going to be a long time, so by 3:30am Jeff decided we should go to the hospital. I knew if I wasn't far along they would send us back. We get there and yes I am in labour, but only half a centimeter dilated...so home we went...not drugs, they said come back when I need drugs. So I held out till 9:30 and went back for drugs! Then I was only 1cm dilated! Oh come on! really!?! I was told they would last till about 4pm...to come back if I wanted more drugs. So sure enough come 4:30 I am back requesting more drugs! By then they take a look and the nurse says that they will keep me. At that point we had seen a resident doctor and the nurses were teaching him how to check dilation, etc. I don't mind being a student Guinea Pig at all! It is important that they can learn on someone for future doctors! Poor guy had seen me a lot! :P

So they bring me into my new room and introduce me to my nurse (she was awesome!) and ask if I want drugs...I was Yes of course! lol So she went to get a doctor for my epidural but as my luck would have it they were all busy with a coma patient, so I had to get some drugs to tide me over till they could come up. That was a funny experience, once the nurse put it in I got really sleepy then perked right up and became really giggly. Drugs are fun! LOL.

Finally the anesthesiologist comes up she tries to get the epidural in but can't...she picked me 3 times, so she had to send for her superior. Poor girl I felt bad for her, her boss came up and withing 1 min had it in. So get to relax until Olivia is ready to come out. I am on Facebook and checking email, really I was bored waiting. As I looked at the clock it is now 10:30pm...Olivia is not going to come out by her due date! I knew it! So I get to meet all the doctors in the house that night! I had my resident doctor (Dr. Andrew), then I met Dr. Webber who came to break my water...all I have to say is crochet hook! and then the doctor who would actually do the delivery. As I was pushing (Olivia decided she wanted to go back in) so they called the OBGYN in case they needed forceps...needless to say, Olivia was like, I am out of here. So when she made her appearance, there were 5 doctors and like 6-8 nurses on standby. Good thing I don't mind a crowd! lol

So Olivia made her appearance at 1:36am on Sunday September 9th, 2012. Just a little late of her due date!

Isn't she a cutie!

Olivia Minutes Old

So that is what I have been up to...next update will be September on!

~E

A Short Week, but man! Did it feel LONG!

So I am sure you are all super impressed that I managed to blog almost every day last week...I knew it wouldn't last forever, but there was so much to catch up on...

It has been a little boring at work, with me loosing work because I will be leaving, and it is Summer so there isn't as much going on, unless it is an emergency. Which is fine I guess, but makes the day very long. Along with not sleeping very well at night, this doesn't help with me wanting to be at work.

I have to say my pregnancy has been really spectacular health wise. No major issues, lowest blood pressure EVER, and just minor symptoms. For me I get really bad heartburn, and my lower back and hips have been killing me. I roll over in the night and my pelvis pops...really loud. Loud enough for Jeff to hear it! :P So I have had to sleep on my side, so all my weight sits there and that means that I can get about an hour to hour and a half of actual sleeping until it starts hurting and I need to roll over. This disturbs EVERYONE! The cats and Jeff. I am sure Lance is fed up of me bouncing around. So what happens now is that I at about 3AM I have woken myself up...no getting comfortable and no sleep. Last night I had to move to the couch just to get into a different space. I guess I need to get used to no sleep, but man does it suck!

On another note, my hormones are working overtime...I got teary eyed yesterday because I had order a caramel Sunday at Costco and 3 people after got served before me! I wanted my DAMN ice cream!!!

I get back to the table and Jeff says "What's wrong"

"Nothing"

"Did someone step on your foot?"

"JUST DROP IT!" I say forcefully with tears in my eyes.

He gives me the wide eye look and shuts up. Stupid hormones! Can you believe it?!? Just wait till I give birth. Ugh!

I can laugh now, but it sure wasn't funny yesterday. Then I had a nap.

Update on the baby room - well it is 70% cleaned out, my Mom and Memere are coming up tonight to see if we can sort the rest out and the spare room too. Now that place is an explosion! I will be surprised if they can even find the bed again! The house is a quasi disaster, but the living room as stay uber clean...it is everywhere else now. But I guess we are getting there. As the countdown for Pennsic is happening for all my friends, I am counting down to finishing the baby's room!

Here is a super cute picture of Cleo sleeping on my pillow last night as we had taken away her cat perch in the window of the future baby's room...now I need to figure out a good place for her to get it back.

Cleo Sleeping on my pillow...she looks so comfortable and cute!

So there...a gratuitous picture of one of the cats.

Finally chatted with Mel in what is like forever! Got some ideas on Fighting garb and made a time for us to hang out...boy have I missed her and Dave. So I have to remember to put fighting armor and such on my project list to do while on Mat leave...if I can! I can already see the year fly by!

I am sad too...didn't get to complete my 2 last months of my quilt bee...the fabric is sitting in a bag to be done, but it is not fair to the ladies, so I am going to mail them back on Monday unfinished. That sewing room is going to kill me eventually. Sorry ladies if you read my blog at all! I was not expecting all this work just to get ready for a baby...I know...no excuse, but I hope you can forgive me!

~E

A new Bed for Soon to be Parents

As I am sure you are aware, I LOVE IKEA! yes I do...I love the design, I love that I have to build it, and I love the prices!

So the weekend of July 7th, they had one of their great sales. Jeff and I were heading into Ottawa anyway since we were going to his sister's cottage to celebrate his nephew Josh's 17th birthday. So we decided that we needed a new bed frame and the one I wanted was on sale! YAY!

We had a really nice time at the cottage, Jeff went tubing on the boat while I enjoyed the sun. It was late when we got home though and brought in the bed frame which had been tied to our roof rack.

On Sunday we decided to build the bed and then work on the office and then Mel and Dave were coming over for dinner and movies or Rock band... Well needless to say that didn't happen. We started on the bed and Jeff noticed that the headboard solid panel was cracked. So we decided to head back to Ikea and get it exchanged. So I got the piece exchanged with no problems, we had lunch at Ikea and headed home. Now of course it is like 3:30pm. Mel and Dave due to arrive at 6pm didn't leave us much time.

Ceasar and Lance helping in the bedroom!

So we look at the instruction and look back at the piece and it is completely different! It matches the instructions online, but not our instructions. The holes don't even match up! What?!?! So I call Ikea's customer service line to try and figure it out...apparently our bed was the Brazilian version!

So do we go back or wait till Monday...Jeff wanted to get it over and done with so, back to Ikea we went. This time with all the other parts - sans foot board. We get to Ikea and lucky us, I get the same rep from the first return - Steph. She looking at the pieces and was trying to figure out what had happened. Eventually we came to the conclusion that we needed to return everything and they would give us a bed with all the proper stuff in it. But that meant we would have to sleep on the mattresse on the floor and go back for the 3rd time on Monday.

Oh well, that is what we did! Now that night I had the best sleep ever! It felt like I was in a King bed. Jeff wasn't crowding me the cats all had their own place...how is that possible. I guess we had a bad bed frame before and now we were on the flat floor. No sagging in the middle. I can't wait for our new bed frame.

So Monday night we head back to Ikea (#3) to exchange the whole bed. We ended up with Steph again (thank goodness!) and we didn't need to explain the whole situation again. She exchanged the bed, made sure we had the right parts, gave us a little something for our trouble, and I picked up some more boxes for the sewing room. We headed home ready to build our bed.

It sure took us a long time to get it done...Lance didn't help by escaping and going into the culvert across the street, but hey! Here it is!

It is lovely and level and roomy! I really need to finish one of my quilts to put on this bed...

Now on to the Baby's room...I think this is an ongoing theme!

~E